Just four days ago, Woodson gushed that the Knicks would “absolutely’’ match the Rockets’ offer sheet and said Lin would be the starter at point guard to open training camp.
But that was before Lin secretly flew to Las Vegas to change the offer sheet and turn a four-year, $28 million deal with $19 million guaranteed into a fully guaranteed three-year, $25 million contract — with the final year a balloon payment of $14.9 million that Carmelo Anthony called “ridiculous’’ yesterday.
How ridiculous? The Knicks are expected to be over the luxury-tax threshold for three straight years by 2014-15, and repeat taxpayers will be subject to the harshest of luxury-tax penalties.
If all of Lin’s $14.9 million salary comes in over the threshold, the first $5 million will be taxed at a 2.5-to-1 ratio. The next $5 million will be taxed at a 2.75-to-1 ratio. The final $4.9 million is taxed a 3.5-to-1 ratio.
The math shows the tax alone on Lin’s final year would be $43.4 million, meaning the entire bill that season could be $58.3 million.